from the that's-how-it-works dept

One of the "examples" held up by newspaper folks, who think that charging online is the answer, is the "success" of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. However, Jay Rosen points us to Mark Potts excellent analysis of what's happening at the Democrat-Gazette and the conclusion is that the "success" is a lot more questionable than many who highlight it might believe.

First, the online subscription process hasn't really been a success in terms of getting online subscriptions. They've only signed up 3,400 subscribers in six whole years -- bringing in a whopping $200,000 in revenue. That's not paying for very much. What the subscription process has done, is slowed down the number of folks ditching their paper subscriptions. Of course, that still might get some newspaper folks excited -- but, again, Potts pours some cold water on that, by suggesting some reasons why this might be unique, including the fact that the population is older, there's little competition (but it's rapidly increasing) and the paper already held a really strong market position. But the key point is that the paper is betting on print -- not the web. The business model isn't driving significant new web revenue, it's trying to cling to the past as long as possible. That's a really dangerous position to be in if someone else in your market figures out how to make the online revenue side of things work out -- because it really isn't that easy to turn on a dime.